Gal Gadot Talks Internet Reaction To Her Being Cast As Wonder Woman

Earlier this month, Warner Bros. revealed that actress Gal Gadot had been cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film, becoming the first person to play the iconic character in a major motion picture. And because the internet can be a terrible place, many took this as an invitation to head to social media and viciously criticize her body -- a move that reflects the kind of behavior we're guessing Wonder Woman would probably disapprove of.

Gadot recently gave her first extended public remarks about taking on the role, discussing the internet reaction to the news, her own reaction when she was told she got the part, as well as what she's going through to physically prepare to play the Amazonian princess.

Gadot, an Israeli actress, discussed the role during an interview on ‘Good Evening with Gai Pines,' a popular Israeli television show. The interview was in Hebrew, but it was translated by a reader over at Batman News. First, Gadot shared the experience of being told she'd got the part:

I was just on my way to shooting at LA. I landed at NY in a connection flight when my agent, Hadass Lichtenstein, called me. She says to me “Wonder Woman!” and I’m like “What??” – “The role is yours!…and it’s a secret and the news are not yet announced and you can’t tell anyone…”. I’m saying to her “Are you serious??”- and we both scream! Now it’s a plane from Israel to NY and I can’t make loud noise, and so I lean on a window, bending down to my legs, and just try to understand. Long story short – I was totally alone in NY, I got to a hotel at 12 pm, I needed to wake up in the morning for shootings. I remember laying in the darkness by myself, staring at the ceiling, and I was telling myself “It’s not real!”…it shouldn’t be like that, I’m supposed to be like… “where’s the champagne?”

When asked about those who claim that she's too skinny for the role, Gadot had this to say: "Hmm. I represent the Wonder Woman of the new world. Breasts… anyone can buy for 9,000 shekels and everything is fine. By the way, Wonder Woman is amazonian, and historically accurate amazonian women actually had only one breast. So, if I’d really go 'by the book'…it’d be problematic." She also spoke about the physical grind of preparing for the role. "It’s the physical preparations that I’m starting now," said Gadot. "A very serious training regimen – Kung Fu, kickboxing, swords, jujutsu, Brazilian…1,000 and 1 things…I’ll gain body mass."

The as yet untitled Batman vs. Superman film is set to arrive in theaters on July 17, 2015. You can watch the full interview, which is in Hebrew, below.